The Shelby City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to put a 2.8-mill bond issue on the November ballot.

This bond issue would be for only a pre-K through grade eight building. It would not include a football stadium or renovations to the middle school, which were in two other ballot initiatives that residents already rejected.

According to projections from the county auditor, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $98 a year. Elderly and disabled people in a similar home would pay $63.70 a year.

The cost of the project is $33.6 million; the state would pay 50 percent of the cost. The district would kick in $6.6 million through the general fund, money left over from the high school project and money borrowed against existing PI bonds, reducing the local share to $10.2 million.

"That's to lower the tax burden on the community," Superintendent Tim Tarvin said.

Along with the millage dropping from 4.6 in May to 2.8 in November, the district would still use the middle school, specifically the gym, music rooms and David Jones Little Theater.

The board office would move to the middle school, and Auburn, Central and Dowds elementary schools would be sold or demolished. The district would attempt to maintain and operate the Central gym.

"We will continue to give people plenty of opportunities to ask questions," Tarvin said. "We want our electorate to be as informed as possible."

Tarvin pointed out if the issue fails in November, other school districts will pass Shelby on the list to collect state money.

"This is our last real opportunity," the superintendent said.

In other business, the board voted to amend changes to the extracurricular handbook to allow drug testing for middle school students.

The district has been testing high school students who drive or participate in extracurricular activities for the last three years.

"If we're saying that our drug testing gives students a reason to say no, we really need to expand it to the middle school," high school principal John Gies said. "Not that there is a huge problem at the middle school, but enough that we wanted to get ahead of it."

Students who participate in extracurriculars will be randomly tested.

Board president Lorie White asked how many positive tests came back last year at the high school. Gies said there were two.

Tarvin talked about the measure after the meeting.

"It has gone well for us (at the high school)," he said. "We don't want to stick our head in the sand. We're providing that service to help kids."